Heart Rate Spikes on Timeline After Activity with Chest Strap

When using a Garmin® watch with optical heart rate (OHR), spikes in heart rate (HR) may be present on the Timeline Chart after activities while also using a chest strap heart rate monitor (HRM). When removing an HRM, it will continue to try to detect heart rate, and can register some high values. If the chest strap is still connected to the watch when the HRM is removed, it may record high heart rate values that may appear as spikes in the HR Timeline Chart.

Avoiding Heart Rate Spikes

• When using a chest strap for an activity, make sure to end the activity, save it, and go back to the watch face before removing the chest strap. 

• When the watch is on the watch face, it is no longer connected to the chest strap and instead using OHR for the HR Timeline chart. In this state, any high heart rate values detected when the chest strap is removed, will not be received by the wearable.